ELECTRIC BUS THROUGH THE EYES OF CITIZENS

Abstract

Decarbonizing the transportation sector can play a critical role in mitigating climate change and its damage to ecosystems. From 01.07.2024 to 01.12.2024, a team of authors conducted a survey of residents of Volgograd, the purpose of which was to assess the city’s transport infrastructure, the level of dynamic impact of public transport on buildings and structures, its environmental friendliness, comfort, safety, and identify the consumer properties of a new type of public transport - an electric bus. 435 people were interviewed. The results of a survey demonstrated that 56.2 % of residents prefer buses when traveling around the city, while almost every fifth resident prefers to use an electric bus. 52.2 % of residents consider the most effective measures to reduce noise and dynamic impact on buildings landscaping of roadside areas and replacing diesel public transport with electric buses. 85.6 % of respondents consider electric buses to be an environmentally friendly mode of transport. 61.2 % supported the replacement of diesel buses with electric buses. The majority of the surveyed citizens (95.0 %) consider a comfortable acoustic environment to be one of the important advantages, and 2/3 of the respondents believe that the electric bus is the safest form of public transport. 85.1 % of citizens would like to replace buses with electric buses. The results of survey clearly reveal the need for the further development of electric buses as an energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and economical form of public transport in megacities.